Chapter XIX: Part 19

~Privateering.~--Most likely there was some truth in the statement that chains and shackles were made here for the slave-ships of former days, and from the following letter written to Matthew Boulton in October, 1778, there can be little doubt but that he at least had a share in some of the privateering exploits of the time, though living so far from a seaport:--"One of the vessels _our_ little brig took last year was fitted out at New York, and in a cruise of thirteen weeks has taken thirteen prizes, twelve of which are carried safe in, and we have advice of 200 hogsheads of tobacco being shipped as part of the prizes, which if now here would fetch us £10,000," &c.

~Progress of the Town.~--The Borough Surveyor favours us yearly with statistics giving the number of new buildings erected, or for which plans have been approved, and to show how rapidly the town is progressing in extent, we give a few of the figures. The year 1854 is memorable in the building trade, as there were 2,219 new houses erected, the average for years after not being 1,000. In 1861 the number was but 952; in 1862, 1,350; in 1863, 1,694; in 1864, 1,419; in 1865, 1,056; in 1866, 1,411; in 1867, 1,408; in 1868, 1,548; in 1869, 1,709; in 1870, 1,324; in 1871, 1,076; in 1872, 1,265; in 1873, 993. The building report for the last ten years is thus tabulated:--

1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Houses 1611 3395 2903 2700 1205 1197 1301 1236 666 938 and Shops Churches 1 1 1 1 -- -- -- -- 2 2 Chapels 2 2 5 3 1 -- 1 1 -- 1 Schools 9 15 6 6 4 -- -- 2 6 1 Manufactories and 76 80 107 86 64 102 64 91 64 73 Warehouses Miscellaneous 42 48 43 90 96 101 71 84 62 97 Alterations 47 67 52 167 290 225 222 180 163 158 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 1788 3608 3117 3053 1660 1625 1659 1594 963 1235 [1]

[1] [Transcriber's note: This is an error; the column adds up to 1270]

Under the heading of "Miscellaneous" are included such erections as libraries, public halls, clubs, arcades, slaughterhouses, cowsheds, and all other necessary and useful buildings appertaining to human hives, but which need not be particularised.

~Probate.~--The Probate Registry Office is at No. 15, Old Square.

~Promenades~--When Corporation Street is finished, and its pathways nicely shaded with green-leaved trees, it will doubtless be not only the chief business street of the town, but also the most popular promenade. At present the gay votaries of dress and fashion principally honour New Street, especially on Saturday mornings. Hagley Road, on Sunday evenings, is particularly affected by some as their favourite promenade.

~Proof House.~--The foundation stone of the Proof House, Banbury Street, was laid October 4th, 1813, the yearly number of gun, rifle, and pistol barrels proved at the establishment averages over half a million.--See "_Trades_"

~Property.~--The Birmingham Property Owners' and Ratepayers' Protection Association was formed in May, 1872. Out of 70,000 separate assessments the owners pay the rates in more than 50,000 cases.

~Provident Dispensaries.~--See "Dispensaries."

~Provident Societies.~--See "_Friendly, benevolent, and Provident Institutions_."

~Provincialisms.~--Like the inhabitants of most other parts of the country Birmingham people are not without their peculiarities of speech, not so strongly characterised perhaps as those of the good folks of Somersetshire, or even some of our neighbours in the Black Country, but still noticeable. For instance, few workmen will take a holiday; they prefer a "day's out" or "play." They will not let go or abandon anything, but they "loose" it. They do not tell you to remove, but "be off." They prefer to "pay at twice" in lieu of in two instalments. The use of the word "her" in place of "she" is very common, as well as the curious term "just now," for an indefinite time to come, as "Her'll do it just now," instead of "She will do it soon." In vulgar parlance this book is not your own or our own, but "yourn" or "ourn," or it may be "hisn" or "hern." In pronunciation as well, though perhaps not so markedly, our people are sometimes peculiar, as when they ask for a "stahmp" or put out their "tong," &c., stress being often laid also on the word "and," as well as upon syllables not requiring it, as diction_ary_, volun_teers_, &c.

~Public Buildings.~--The Guild Hall, in New Street, and the Roundabout House in High Street were at one time the only public buildings in the town, besides the Parish Church, the Lockups, and the Pinfold. The Market Cross, Public Office, Workhouse, &c., came after, and it is only of late years we have been able to boast of Town Hall, Market Hall, Parish Office, Council House and all the other establishments so necessary to the dignity of a town ranking as third largest in the Kingdom. The huge piles that have been erected during the last dozen years or so are of so varied a character that it becomes somewhat difficult to draw a line between those which are strictly of a private nature and the so-called "public" buildings; under which heading perhaps even Railway Stations, Banks, and Theatres might properly come. The following are some of the chief edifices not noted elsewhere:--

_County Court_.--The new County Court, at the corner of Corporation Street and Newton Street, was erected from the plans of Mr. J. Williams at a cost of about £20,000. It is built of Hollington Stone, in Italian style, though, like that other Government-built edifice, the new Post Office, it is of too heavy an appearance. The two entrances for the general public are in Newton Street, the Registrar's and principal Courts being on the first floor, though neither are near large enough for the business intended to be practised therein. The entrance to the Judge's rooms is in Corporation Street, under a portico with Doric columns.

_Drill Hall_--In 1880 a company was formed, with a capital of £5,000 in £20 shares, for the purpose of building a Drill Hall and suitable head-quarters for the local Volunteers. A site in Thorpe Street, containing 2,287 square yards, was taken on lease for 99 years at £100 rental, and very suitable premises have been erected, the frontage to the street (183 ft.) allowing the formation of a lofty drill hall, 180 ft. long by 85 ft. wide, at the rear of the usual and useful offices and rooms required. The latter comprise on the ground floor an orderly room and strong room, sergeant-major's office, armoury, clothing store, non-commissioned officers' room, privates' meeting room, sergeant-major's and staff-sergeant's quarters, and stables. On the first floor there are an officers' meeting room, a sergeants' meeting room, long galleries, &c.; the whole building being characteristically laid out for military purposes.

_Fire Engine Stations_.--The Central Fire Brigade Station, which is in telephonic communication with all the police stations, the theatres, various public buildings, and chief manufactories, is situated in the Upper Priory, between the Old Square and Steelhouse Lane, and is easily distinguishable by the large red lamp outside its gate. There are here kept ready for instant use three manual and one steam engine, the latter being capable of throwing 450 gallons of water per minute to a height of 120 feet, the other also being good specimens of their class. Each manual engine has on board its complement of hose, branches (the brass pipes through which the water leaves the hose), stand-pipes for connecting the hose with the water mains, &c., while at its side hang scaling-ladders, in sections which can readily be fitted together to reach a considerable height. The engine-house also contains a tender to the steam machine, a horse hose-cart, a hand hose-cart, and a number of portable hand-pumps. It is with these hand-pumps that the majority of the fires in Birmingham are extinguished, and one of them forms a portion of the load of every engine. Several canvas buckets, which flatten into an inconceivably small space, are also taken by means of which, either by carrying or by passing from hand to hand, the reservoirs of the pump can be kept filled, and a jet of water be made available where, perhaps, it would be difficult or impossible to bring hose. The hose kept at the station amounts to a total length of 2,487-1/2 yards, of which about 1,700 yards is always kept on the engines, hose-carts, tender, and fire-escapes ready for instant use. The remainder forms a reserve to allow for repairs, drying, &c. Between the engine-house and the street is a commodious house for the assistant-superintendent, with a very pleasant yard on the roof of the engine-house. Adjoining the engine-house on the other side, is the stable, where five splendid horses are kept. In the yard stand three fire-escapes, each fitted with a box containing hose, stand-pipes and branches, so that it may be utilised for extinguishing fires independent of the engines. The total strength of the brigade is twenty-five, including the superintendent (Mr. A.R. Tozer), the assistant superintendent (Mr. J. Tiviotdale), two engineers, and an assistant engineer. Eighteen of the brigade reside at the central station, the others being quartered at the seven divisional police stations and at the fire station in Bristol Street (opposite the Bell Inn), at each of which places are kept an escape, or an hose-cart, and one or two hand-pumps with the needful hose and appliances. The cost of the buildings in the Upper Priory, including the site (1,500 square yards at seven guineas per yard), was about £20,000, there being in addition to the offices and stables, a waiting-room (in which two men are on duty night and day), a drill ground 153 ft. long by 40 ft. wide, an engine-room large enough for six engines, good-sized recreation rooms, baths, &c. The residences are erected upon the "flat" system, and have a special interest in the fact that they constitute the first important introduction of that style of building in Birmingham. The advantages and the drawbacks, if any, of the system may here be seen and judged of by all who are interested in the matter. On the ground floor there are three residences, each having a living room, which may be used as a kitchen and two bed rooms adjoining. A semicircular open staircase gives access to the flats, and on the first floor there are four residences, one being formed over the firemen's waiting room and office. On this floor additional bed rooms are provided for men with families requiring them; and the second floor is a reproduction of the first. On the top of all there is a flat upon which are erected five wash-houses, the remainder of the space being used as a drying ground or play ground for children, the whole enclosed with iron palisades. In the basement there is a lock-up cellar for each of the residences.

_Fish Market_.--A rather plain-looking erection, of the open-shed style of architecture was put up at the corner of Bell Street in 1870. the foundation stone being laid July 14. It has since been enlarged, and is now much more ornamental as well as being useful. The estimated cost of the alterations is put at £16,000 including fittings. The original area was only 715 square yards, but to that has been added 909 square yards, and Bell Street (to which it will have a frontage of 240 feet), which will be widened to 16 yards, is to be covered with iron and glass roof, Lease Lane is also to be widened for access to the market.

_Lincoln's Inn_.--This is a huge block of offices erected in Corporation Street, opposite the County Court, in 1883. and which, like its London namesake, is intended for the accommodation of solicitors, accountants, and other professional gentlemen. There are a number of suites of offices surrounding an inner court (66ft. by 60ft.), with from two to eight rooms each, the street frontages in Corporation Street and Dalton Street being fitted as shops, while there is a large room under the court (48ft. by 42ft.) suitable for a sale room or other purpose. The outside appearance of the block is very striking, having a large entrance gateway with a circular bay window over it, surmounted by a lofty lower. The tower has four clock faces, pinnacles at the angles, and a steep slate roof and is 120 feet high. There are also two flanking towers, at the extreme ends of the front. These have canted bay windows below them, and their pediments are surmounted by figures representing Mercury and Athæne. The space on each side between the central and the flanking tower is divided into three bays, having ornamental dormers above them, and being divided by niches, which will serve to hold allegorical figures of the arts. The windows are ornamented by tracery, and the façade is enriched by a free use of carving. The architect is Mr. W.H. Ward, and the cost of the pile about £22,000.

_Market Hall_.--The foundation stone was laid Feb. 28, 1833, and it was opened for business Feb. 14, 1835. The building, which is constructed of freestone, from the designs of Mr. Edge, cost about £30,000, though considerable sums have since been spent on it. The large vaults constructed under the Hall in 1875 coat about £4,000. It contains an area of 39,411 square feet, being 365 feet long, 108 feet broad, and 60 feet high, and was originally planned to give stall-room for 600 dealers. The liquor shop, house, and vaults beneath, at corner of Bell Street, were let on lease by auction (Nov. 1833) for 100 years, for the sum of £5,400 and a 20s. yearly rental. In 1876 the Corporation gave £15,000 to resume possession, afterwards reletting the premises at £800 a year, with a further £100 for the vaults. The Street Commissioners, when retiring from office, placed in the centre of the Hall a fountain of very appropriate design (uncovered Dec. 24, 1851), and ornamented with bronze figures characteristic of Birmingham manufactures, but which has been removed to Highgate Park. A clock was put above the spot where the fountain stood, in April, 1852, which cost £60.--A Market Hall was erected in Prospect Row in 1837, but was very little used as such. A few years back it was partly turned into a depot for American meat, but is now simply used for warehouses.

_Masonic Hall_.--The first stone of this building, situated at the corner of New Street and Ethel Street, was laid Sept. 30, 1865, the ceremony of dedication taking place April 26th, 1870.

_Municipal Buildings_.--The advancement of the town in trade and prosperity, population, and wealth, made it necessary years ago for our local governors to look out for a central spot on which could be gathered the many offices and officers appertaining to the Corporation of a large town like Birmingham. They were fortunate in being able (in 1854) to secure so eligible a site, in such a central position, and with such commanding elevation, as the one at the corner of Ann Street and Congreve Street, though at first glance the acquisition would appear to have been a costly one. The price of the land and reversion thereto was £39,525, but during the years that elapsed before the ground was cleared ready for building (1872) the interest brought that sum up to nearly £70,000. The total area was 11,540 square yards, of which 4,455 square yards were thrown into the streets. Thus, though the original price was but 68s. 6d. per yard, by the time the buildings were erected the actual site cost over £9 per yard. The plans were approved Feb. 11, 1873, the contract for building being £84,120, but during the course of erection many important additions and alterations were made to the original plans, raising the cost to £144,743. Part of the ground was originally intended to be covered with Assize Courts, but have been devoted to the erection of a magnificent Art Gallery, &c., so that more than a quarter million sterling will ultimately have been spent on the spot. The foundation stone was laid by the then Mayor, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, June 17, 1874, and the erection took about five years, the "hoarding" being removed July 18, 1879. The design of the Municipal Buildings is essentially classical, but not of any particular style, Mr. Yeoville Thomasson, the architect, having given free rein to his own conceptions of what was required in a modern erection of the nature of a local Parliament House. The south, or principal front (to Ann Street), has a length of 296 feet, the frontage to Congreve Street is 122 feet, and that to Eden Place is 153 feet. From the ground to the top of the main cornice the height is 65 feet; the pediment over the central entrance is 90 feet high; the stone cornice of the dome 114 feet; and the top of the finial 162 feet, the dome rising behind the central pediment from the main staircase. Looked at from a distance, the features of the building that at first strike the spectator are the carved groups of life-sized figures in the six pediments. The Ann Street and Congreve Street frontages have a pediment at each end, of semicircular shape, and the Eden Place frontage has one at the end where it joins the principal front. The pediment in the centre of the south front is triangular in shape, and contains a group of sculptured figures representing "Britannia rewarding the Birmingham manufacturers." In the other pediments the groups represent Manufacture, Commerce, Literature, Art, and Science. Under the central pediment, and within a semicircular arch over the central entrance, is a large and beautiful figure-subject in mosaic, executed by Messrs. Salviati and Co., of London. Besides the central entrance, which is reached through a portico supported by square and round columns, and is reserved for the use of the Town Council and state occasions, there are four entrances to the building, one at each end of the principal front, one in Eden Place, and the other within the gateway which runs through the Congreve Street wing into the courtyard at the back. By the last-mentioned staircase access is obtained by the general public to the Council Chamber. The building contains 94 rooms of various sizes, three of the largest devoted to occasions of ceremony, and the rest to the uses of the different departments of the Corporation work. The central of the three reception rooms is 30 feet square, and is divided from the other two by an open screen of marble columns, both rooms being 64ft. by 30ft. The Council Chamber is 39ft. wide and, including the gallery for spectators, is 48ft. long, the fittings and furniture being of the most substantial character as well as ornamental. In various parts of the building accommodation has been found for the Town Clerk, the Borough Treasurer, Surveyor, Analyst, Chief Constable, and every other department of Corporation work. The furnishing of the Council Chamber and the other parts of the Municipal Buildings amounted to £15,603, the laying in of the gas and water services being £2,418 additional.

_Odd-Fellows' Hall_.--Before the New Street Railway Station was erected there was an Odd-Fellows' Hall in King Street. The first stone of the present building in Upper Temple Street was laid early in 1849, the opening ceremony taking place Dec. 3 same year. The principal room or "hall" will accommodate about 1,000 persons, the remaining portion of the premises being let off in offices.

_Parish Offices_.--The meeting-place of the Board of Guardians and their necessary staff of officers has from the earliest days of Poor Law government been the most frequented of any of our public buildings. Formerly the headquarters were at the Workhouse in Lichfield Street, but when that institution was removed to Birmingham Heath, the large building at the corner of Suffolk Street and Paradise Street was built for the use of the parish officers, possession being taken thereof Feb. 26, 1853. Thirty years seems but a short period for the occupation of such a pile of offices, but as it has been necessary several times to enlarge the Workhouse, as well as to collect very much larger sums from the ratepayers, it is but in the natural order of things that the Overseers, Guardians, and all others connected with them should be allowed more elbow-room. A parish palace, almost rivalling our Municipal Buildings in magnificence of ornate architecture, has therefore been erected at the junction of Edmund Street and Newhall Street, where poor unfortunate people going to the Workhouse, and whose ultimate destination will possibly be a pauper's grave, may have the gratification of beholding beautiful groups of statuary sculpture, Corinthian columns of polished granite, pilasters of marble, gilded capitals, panelled ceilings, coloured architraves, ornamental cornices, encaustic tiles, and all the other pretty things appertaining to a building designed in a "severe form of the style of the French Renaissance," as an architectural paper critic calls it. Ratepayers will also have pleasure in taking their money to and delivering it over in "one of the most convenient suites of poor-law offices in the kingdom," possibly deriving a little satisfaction from the fact that their descendants in less than a hundred years' time will have to build another such suite of offices, or buy this over again, as the Guardians only hold the site (1,700 square yards) upon a ninety-nine years' lease at a yearly rental of £600 (7s. per yard). The building contract was for £25,490, besides extras, the architect being Mr. W.H. Ward, and the fittings, internal decoration, and furnishing was estimated at about £5,000 more, though possibly as the chairs in the Boardroom are put down at £5 each, if other articles be in proportion, both sums will be materially increased. The work was commenced in June, 1882, the memorial stone being laid February 15th, the following year. The building, which has five storeys, stands on three sides of a square courtyard, and faces into Edmund Street. Newhall Street, and a new thoroughfare made in continuation of Bread Street. In general character the three faces are alike, the masonry being rusticated in Coxbench stone to the line of the second floor, the chiselling finishing with an entablature, and the remaining two storeys included in one order of Corinthian red granite pillars, which support the main entablature. The front in Edmund Street, 105 feet in length, is symmetrically divided by a central tower, on either side of which the Corinthian pillars are discontinued until the two corners are almost reached, where they support pediments. The tower, which for a distance above the root is square, contains four clock-faces and supports an octagonal storey, covered by a panelled stone dome, surmounted in turn by a lantern and its finial. The height of the tower from the level of the street is 105 feet, the slated towers over the lateral pediments being smaller. The Newhall Street façade, 160 feet long, is broken into three portions of nearly equal length, and the middle portion is treated differently from the other two. Above the line of the second floor entablature the windows, instead of being in a double row in correspondence with the storeys, are in this middle section of the façade carried almost to the height of the columns, and the section is surmounted in its centre by an ornamental pedestal, which bears a group of sculpture, and at its extremes by slated flagstaff towers, whose sides are concave. The purpose of these larger windows is the effectual lighting of the Boardroom, which is of the height of two storeys. The length of the Bread Street front is 90 feet. The Boardroom is 60 feet long, 36 feet wide and 24 feet high, the room being lighted by two sunburners suspended from the ceiling panels, and is handsomely decorated throughout. The offices of the Registrar of births, marriages and deaths are entered from Newhall Street, and there is a special waiting room for the use of marriage parties whilst they are preparing to go before the Registrar, a provision which will no doubt be fully appreciated by many blushing maidens and bashful bachelors.

_Public Office_.--The office for the meetings of the Justices was at one time in Dale End, and it was there that "Jack and Tom" were taken in November, 1780, charged with murdering a butcher on the road to Coleshill. The first stone of the Public Office and Prison in Moor Street was laid September 18, 1805, the cost being estimated at £10,000. It was considerably enlarged in 1830, and again in 1861, and other improving alterations have been made during the last three years, so that the original cost has been more than doubled, but the place is still inadequate to the requirements of the town.

_Smithfield Market_.--Laid out by the Street Commissioners in 1817, at a cost of £6,000, as an open market, has been enlarged by taking in most of the ground bordered by Jamaica Row, St. Martin's Lane and Moat Lane, and is nearly all covered in for the purposes of a wholesale market, the work being commenced in November, 1880. The main entrance is in the centre of the St. Martin's Lane front, and consists of a central roadway for carts and wagons, 15ft. wide and 24ft. high, together with a wide entrance on either side for foot passengers. The main piers supporting the large archway are of stone, but the arch itself is constructed of terra-cotta, richly moulded and carved. Over the archway are two sculptured figures in red terra-cotta, representing "Flora" and "Pomona." The whole of the carving and sculptured work has been executed by Mr. John Roddis. The archways are fitted with massive wrought-iron gates, manufactured by Messrs. Hart, Son, Peard, and Co. The entrances in Jamaica Row and Moat Lane have arched gateways and gates to match, though much higher to allow of the passage of laden wains. The market superintendent's office is on the left of the man entrance. Greatest part of the St. Martin's Lane front is occupied by the new Woolpack Hotel, and the remainder by shops. The buildings, which are from the designs of Messrs. Osborne and Reading, are designed in the style of the English Renaissance of the Stuart period, and are constructed of red brick, with red terra-cotta dressings. At each end of the St. Martin's Lane front are circular turrets, with conical roof, flanked by ornamental gables, and in the centre is a gable with octagonal turret on each side.

_Temperance Hall_.--The foundation stone of this building, which is in Upper Temple Street, was laid Jan. 12, 1858, and it was opened Oct. 11 following.

_The Cobden_.--Though the property of a private company, who have twenty other establishments in the town, the "Cobden," in Corporation Street, may rank as a public building if only from its central position and finished architecture. It was opened by John Bright, Esq., Aug. 29, 1883, and cost about £10,000. In style it may be said to be French-Gothic of early date, with Venetian features in the shape of traceried oriel windows, &c., the frontage being of Corsham Down and Portland stone.

_Town Hall_.--For many years the pride and the boast of Birmingham has been its noble Town Hall, which still remains the most conspicuous building, as well as the finest specimen of architecture, in the town. It was erected by the Street Commissioners, who obtained a special Act for the purpose in 1828, to enable them to lay a rate to pay for it. The architect was Mr. T. Hansom, of the firm of Messrs. Hansom and Welch, who, by a curious provision, were also bound to be the contractors. Their original estimate was £17,000, with extras, which would have raised it to about £19,000, but so far were their figures out that £30,000 were expended prior to the first meeting being held in the Hall, and that sum had been increased to £69,520 when the building was finally completed in 1850 by the addition of the pillars and pediments at the back. The foundations and solid parts of the structure are built of brick, the casing or outside of the walls, the pillars, and the ornamental portions being of Anglesey marble, given to the contractors by the owner of Penmaen quarries, Sir Richard Bulkeley, Bart. The building was commenced April 27, 1832, and opened Sept. 19, 1834, being used for the Festival of that year; the first public meeting held in the Hall being on Nov. 28th. The outside measurements of the Hall are-- Length 175ft., breadth 100ft., height 83ft., viz., basement 23ft., columns 36ft., cornice 9ft., and pediment 15ft,. The forty columns are each 3-1/2ft. diameter. The hall, or great room, is 145ft. long, 65ft. broad, and 65ft. high; including the orchestra it will seat a few over 3,000 persons, while it is said that on more than one occasion 10,000 have found standing room. Considerable sums have been spent in trying to improve the ventilation and lighting of the Hall, as well as in redecorating occasionally, the medallions of eminent composers and other worthies being introduced in 1876. For description of Town Hall organ see "_Organs_."

_Windsor Street Gas Works_ with its immense gas-holders, retort-houses, its own special canal and railway approaches, covers an area of about twenty-six acres, extending almost from Dartmouth Street to Aston Road. Though there can be no grand architectural features about such an establishment certain parts of the works are worthy of note, the two principal gas-holders and the new retort-house being among the largest of their kind in the world. The holders, or gasometers as they are sometimes called, are each 240ft. in diameter, with a depth of 50ft., the telescope arrangement allowing of a rise of 170ft., giving a containing capacity equal to the space required for 6,250,000 cubic feet of gas. The new retort house is 455ft. long by 210ft. wide, and will produce about nine million cubic feet of gas per day, the furnaces being supplied with coal and cleared of the coke by special machinery of American invention, which is run upon rails backwards and forwards from the line of coal trucks to the furnace mouths. The quantity of coal used per week is nearly 4,000 tons, most of which is brought from North Staffordshire, and the reserve coal heap is kept as near as convenient to a month's supply, or 16,000 tons. The machinery for the purification of the gas, the extracting of the ammoniacal liquor, tar and residuals, which make the manufacture of gas so remunerative, are of the most improved description.

_Workhouse_.--The first mention of a local institution thus named occurs in the resolution passed at a public meeting held May 16, 1727, to the effect that it was "highly necessary and convenient that a Public Work House should be erected in or near the town to employ or set to work the poor of Birmingham for their better maintenance as the law directs." This resolution seems to have been carried out, as the Workhouse in Lichfield Street (which was then a road leading out of the town) was built in 1733 the first cost being £1,173, but several additions afterwards made brought the building account to about £3,000. Originally it was built to accommodate 600 poor persons, but in progress of time it was found necessary to house a much larger number, and the Overseers and Guardians were often hard put to for room; which perhaps accounts for their occasionally discussing the advisability of letting some of their poor people out on hire to certain would-be taskmasters as desired such a class of employees. In the months of January, February, and March, 1783, much discussion took place as to building a new Workhouse, but nothing definite was done in the matter until 1790, when it was proposed to obtain an Act for the erection of a Poorhouse at Birmingham Heath, a scheme which Hutton said was as airy as the spot chosen for the building. Most likely the expense, which was reckoned at £15,000, frightened the ratepayers, for the project was abandoned, and for fifty years little more was heard on the subject. What they would have said to the £150,000 spent on the present building can be better imagined than described. The foundation-stone of the latter was laid Sept. 7, 1850, and the first inmates were received March 29, 1852, in which year the Lichfield Street establishment was finally closed, though it was not taken down for several years after. The new Workhouse is one of the largest in the country, the area within its walls being nearly twenty acres, and it was built to accommodate 3,000 persons, but several additions in the shape of new wards, enlarged schools, and extended provision for the sick, epileptic and insane, have since been made. The whole establishment is supplied with water from an artesian well, and is such a distance from other buildings as to ensure the most healthy conditions. The chapel, which has several stained windows, is capable of seating 800 persons and in it, on May 9, 1883, the Bishop of Worcester administered the rite of confirmation to 31 of the inmates, a novelty in the history of Birmingham Workhouse, at all events. Full provision is made for Catholics and Nonconformists desiring to attend the services of their respective bodies. In connection with the Workhouse may be noted the Cottage Homes and Schools at Marston Green (commenced in October, 1878) for the rearing and teaching of a portion of the poor children left in the care of the Guardians. These buildings consist of 3 schools, 14 cottage homes, workshops, infirmary, headmaster's residence, &c., each of the homes being for thirty children, in addition to an artisan and his wife, who act as heads of the family. About twenty acres of land are at present thus occupied, the cost being at the rate of £140 per acre, while on the buildings upwards of £20,000 has been spent.

~Public houses.~--The early Closing Act came into operation here, November 11, 1864; and the eleven o'clock closing hour in 1872; the rule from 1864 having been to close at one and open at four a.m. Prior to that date the tipplers could be indulged from the earliest hour on Monday till the latest on Saturday night. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and his friends thought so highly of the Gothenburg scheme that they persuaded the Town Council into passing a resolution (Jan. 2, 1877) that the Corporation ought to be allowed to buy up all the trade in Birmingham. There were forty-six who voted for the motion against ten; but, when the Right Hon. J.C.'s monopolising motion was introduced to the House of Commons (March 13, 1877), it was negatived by fifty-two votes.

~Pudding Brook.~--This was the sweetly pretty name given to one of the little streams that ran in connection with the moat round the old Manorhouse. Possibly it was originally Puddle Brook, but as it became little more than an open sewer or stinking mud ditch before it was ultimately done away with, the last given name may not have been inappropriate.

~Quacks.~--Though we cannot boast of a millionaire pill-maker like the late Professor Holloway, we have not often been without a local well-to-do "quack." A medical man, named Richard Aston, about 1815-25, was universally called so, and if the making of money is proof of quackery, he deserved the title, as he left a fortune of £60,000. He also left an only daughter, but she and her husband were left to die in the Workhouse, as the quack did not approve of their union.

~Quakers.~--Peaceable and quiet as the members of the Society of Friends are known to be now, they do not appear to have always borne that character in this neighbourhood, but the punishments inflicted upon them in the time of the Commonwealth seem to have been brutish in the extreme. In a history of the diocese of Worcester it is stated that the Quakers not only refused to pay tithes or take off their hats in courts of justice, but persisted in carrying on their business on Sundays, and scarcely suffering a service to be conducted without interruption, forcing themselves into congregations and proclaiming that the clergymen were lying witnesses and false prophets, varying their proceedings by occasionally running naked through the streets of towns and villages, and otherwise misbehaving themselves, until they were regarded as public pests and treated accordingly. In the year 1661, fifty-four Quakers were in Worcester gaol, and about the same time seven or eight others were in the lockup at Evesham, where they were confined for fourteen weeks in a cell 22 ft. square and 6 ft. high, being fed on bread and water and not once let out during the whole time, so that people could not endure to past the place; female Quakers were thrust with brutal indecency into the stocks and there left in hard frost for a day and night, being afterwards driven from the town. And this went on during the whole of the time this country was blessed with Cromwell and a Republican Government.--See "_Friends_."

~Quaint Customs.~--The practice of "heaving" or "lifting" on Easter Monday and Tuesday was still kept up in some of the back streets of the town a few years back, and though it may have died out now with us those who enjoy such amusements will find the old custom observed in villages not far away.--At Handsworth, "clipping the church" was the curious "fad" at Easter-time, the children from the National Schools, with ladies and gentlemen too, joining hands till they had surrounded the old church with a leaping, laughing, linked, living ring of humanity, great fun being caused when some of the link loosed hands and let their companions fall over the graves.--On St. John's Days, when the ancient feast or "wake" of Deritend Chapel was kept, it, was the custom to carry bulrushes to the church, and old inhabitants decorated their fireplaces with them.--In the prosperous days of the Holte family, when Aston Hall was the abode of fine old English gentlemen, instead of being the lumber-room of those Birmingham rogues the baronets abominated, Christmas Eve was celebrated with all the hospitalities usual in baronial halls, but the opening of the evening's performances was of so whimsical a character that it attracted attention even a hundred years ago, when queer and quaint customs were anything but strange. An old chronicler thus describes it:--"On this day, as soon as supper is over, a table is set in the hall; on it is set a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck on the top of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco; and the two oldest servants have chairs behind it, to sit in as judges, if they please. The steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at a time, covered with a winnow-sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf, exposing no other part of the body. The oldest of the two judges guesses at the person, by naming a name; then the younger judge, and, lastly, the oldest again. If they hit upon the right name, the steward leads the person back again; but if they do not he takes off the winnow-sheet, and the person receives a threepence, makes low obeisance to the judges, but speaks not a word. When the second servant was brought the younger judge guessed first and third; and this they did alternately till all the money was given away. Whatever servant had not slept in the house the previous night forfeited his right to the money. No account is given of the origin of this strange custom, but it has been practised ever since the family lived there. When the money is gone the servants have full liberty to drink, dance, sing, and go to bed when they please."

~Railways:~ _London and North Western_.--The first proposal for converting Birmingham with the outer world by means of a railway seems to have originated in 1824, as we read of the share-book for a Birmingham and London line being opened here on December 14 of that year. There was a great rush for shares, 2,500 being taken up in two hours, and a £7 premium offered for more, but as the scheme was soon abandoned it is probable the scrip was quickly at a discount. Early in 1830 two separate companies were formed for a line to the Metropolis, but they amalgamated on September 11, and surveys were taken in the following year. Broad Street being chosen as the site for a station. The Bill was introduced into the House of Commons February 20, 1832, but the Lords rejected it in June. Another Bill, with variations in the plans, was brought in in the session of 1833, and it passed on May 6, the work being commenced at the London end in July, and at Birmingham in June of the following year. The line was to be 112-1/2 miles long and estimated to cost £2,500,000, but the real cost amounted to £4,592,700, of which £72,868 18s. 10d. was spent in obtaining the Act alone. The line was opened in sections as completed, the first train running from Euston to Boxmoor, 24-1/2 miles, on July 20, 1837. The average daily number of persons using the line during the first month was 1,428, the receipts being at the rate of £153 per day. On April 9, 1838, the trains reached Rugby, and on Aug. 14, the line was completed to Daddeston Row, the directors taking a trial trip on the 20th. There were only seventeen stations on the whole line, over which the first passenger train ran on Sept. 17.--The prospectus of the Grand Junction Railway (for Liverpool and Manchester) was issued May 7, 1830, and the line from Vauxhall Station to Newton (where it joined the Manchester and Liverpool line) was opened July 4, 1837. The importance of this line of communication was shown by the number of passengers using it during the first nine weeks, 18,666 persons travelling to or from Liverpool, and 7,374 to or from Manchester, the receipts for that period being £41,943.--The Birmingham branch of the South Staffordshire Railway was opened Nov. 1, 1847; the Birmingham and Shrewsbury line, Nov. 12, 1849; and between Dudley and Walsall May 1, 1850. The Stour Valley line was partially brought into use (from Monument Lane) Aug. 19, 1851, the first train running clear through to Wolverhampton July 1, 1852. The line to Sutton Coldfield was opened June 2, 1862, and the Harborne line (for which the Act was obtained in 1866) was opened Aug. 10, 1874. The Act for the construction of the Birmingham and Lichfield line, being a continuation of the Sutton Coldfield Railway, passed June 23, 1874; it was commenced late in October, 1881, and it will shortly be in use. The Bill for the Dudley and Oldbury Junction line passed July 15, 1881. A new route from Leamington to Birmingham was opened in Sept. 1884, shortening the journey to London.

_Midland_.--The Derby and Birmingham Junction line was opened through from Lawley Street Aug. 12th, 1839. The first portion of the Birmingham and Gloucester line, between Barnt Green and Cheltenham, was opened July 1, 1840, coaches running from here to Barnt Green to meet the trains until Dec. 15, 1840, when the line was finished to Camp Hill, the Midland route being completed and opened Feb. 10, 1842. The first sod was cut for the West Suburban line Jan. 14, 1873, and it was opened from Granville Street to King's Norton April 3, 1876. This line is now being doubled and extended from Granville Street to New Street, at an estimated cost of £280,400, so that the Midland will have a direct run through the town.

_Great Western_.--The first portion of the Oxford and Birmingham Railway (between here and Banbury) was opened Sept. 30, 1852, the tunnel from Moor Street to Monmouth Street being finished on June 6th previous. The original estimated cost of this line was but £900,000, which was swelled to nearly £3,000,000 by the bitter fight known as the "Battle of the Gauges." The line from Snow Hill to Wolverhampton was opened Nov. 14, 1854. The first train to Stratford-on-Avon was run on Oct. 9, 1860. The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line was opened in May, 1852. The broad gauge was altered in 1874.

~Railway Jottings.~--The London and Birmingham line cost at the rate of £23,000 per mile, taking nearly five years to make, about 20,000 men being employed, who displaced over 400,000,000 cubic feet of earth. The Grand Junction averaged £16,000 per mile, and at one time there were 11,000 men at work upon it. Slate slabs were originally tried for sleepers on the Birmingham and London line.

The first railway carriages were built very like to coaches, with an outside seat at each end for the guard, though passengers often sat there for the sake of seeing the country.

The fares first charged between Birmingham and London were 30s. by first class, and 20s. second class (open carriages) by day trains; 32s. 6d. first class and 25s. second class, by night. In 1841 the fares were 30s. first, 25s. second, and 20s. 3d. third class; they are now 17s. 4d., 13s. 6d., and 9s. 5d.

"Booking" was a perfectly correct term when the lines were first used, as when passengers went for their tickets they had to give their names and addresses, to be written on the tickets and in the book containing the counterfoils of the tickets.

The day the Grand Junction line was opened was kept as a general holiday between here and Wolverhampton, hundreds of tents and picnic parties being seen along the line.

The directors of the Birmingham and Gloucester line ordered eleven locomotives from Philadelphia at a cost of 85,000 dollars, and it was these engines that brought their trains to Camp Hill at first. In comparison with the engines now in use, these Americans were very small ones. The trains were pulled up the incline at the Lickey by powerful stationary engines.

On the completion of the London line, the engineers who had been employed presented George Stephenson at a dinner held here with a silver tureen and stand worth 130 guineas. This celebrated engineer made his last public appearance at a meeting in this town of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, July 16, 1848, his death taking place on the 12th of the following month.

The L. & N.W.R. Co. have 46,000 men in their employ.

The G.W.R. has the longest mileage of any railway in England, 2,276-1/2 miles; the L. and N.W.R., 1,774-1/2 miles; the Midland, 1,225 miles.

The returns of the L. and N.W., Midland and G.W.R. Companies for 1878 showed local traffic of 936,000 tons of goods, 693,000 tons of coal, coke and other minerals, 20,200 loads of cattle, and 7,624,000 passengers.

The south tunnel in New Street was blocked April 18, 1877, by a locomotive turning over. In October, 1854, an engine fell over into Great Charles Street.

The unused viaduct between Bordesley and Banbury Street belongs to the G.W.R. Co. and was intended to connect their lines with the other Companies. It now stands as a huge monument of the "Railway Mania" days.

The extensive carrying trade of Crowley and Co. was transferred to the L. & N.W.R. Co. May 17, 1873.

~Railway Stations.~--As noted on a previous page, the first railway stations were those in Duddeston Row, Lawley Street, Vauxhall, the Camp Hill, but the desirability of having a Central Station was too apparent for the Companies to remain long at the outskirts, and the L. & N.W.R. Co. undertook the erection in New Street, of what was then (and will soon be again) the most extensive railway station in the kingdom, making terms with the Midland for part use thereof. The work of clearance was commenced in 1846, the estimated cost being put at £400,000, £39,000 being paid to the Governors of the Grammar School for land belonging to them. Several streets were done away with, and the introduction of the station may be called the date-point of the many town improvements that have since been carried out. The station, and the tunnels leading thereto, took seven years in completion, the opening ceremony taking place June 1, 1853. The iron and glass roof was ihe largest roof in the world, being 1,080 ft. long, with a single span of 212 ft. across at a height of 75 ft. from the rails. This immense span has since been surpassed, as the roof of the St. Pancras Station, London, is 243 ft. from side to side. The roof of Lime Street Station, Liverpool, is also much larger, being 410ft wide, but it is in two spans. The station has been since greatly enlarged, extending as far as Hill Street, on which side are the Midland Booking Offices. The tunnels have been partially widened or thrown into open cuttings, additional platforms constructed, and miles of new rails laid down, one whole street (Great Queen Street) being taken bodily into the station for a carriage drive. The station now covers nearly 12 acres, the length of platforms exceeding 1-1/2 miles. The cost of this enlargement was over half-a-million sterling.

As in the case of New Street Station, the introduction of the Great Western Railway caused the removal of a very large number of old buildings, but the monster wooden shed which did duty as the Snow Hill Station for many years was as great a disgrace to the town as ever the old tumbledown structures could have been that were removed to make way for it. This, however, was remedied in 1871, by the erection of the present building, which is extensive and convenient, the platforms having a run of 720 feet, the span of the roof being 92 feet.

~Rateable Values.~--In 1815 the annual rateable value of property in the borough was totaled at £311,954; in 1824 the amount stood at £389,273, an increase of £77,319 in the ten years; in 1834 the return was £483,774, the increase being £94,501; in 1814 it was £569,686, or an increase of £85,912; in 1854 the returns showed £655,631, the increase, £85,934, being little more than in the previous decennial period. The next ten years were those of the highest prosperity the building trade of this town has ever known, and the rateable values in 1864 went up to £982,384, an increase of £326,763. In 1870 a new assessment was made, which added over £112,000 to the rateable values, the returns for 1874 amounting to £1,254,911, an increase in the ten years of £272,527. In 1877 the returns gave a total of £1,352,554; in 1878 £1,411,060, an increase in the one year of £58,506; but since 1878 the increase has not been so rapid, the average for the next three years being £36,379; and, as will be seen by the following table, the yearly increase of values during the last three years is still less in each of the several parish divisions of the borough:--

1881 1882 1883

Birmingham parish £985,081 £991,445 £1,001,541
Yearly increase 18,483 6,364 10,096

Edgbaston parish £179,328 £180,327 £181,552
Yearly increase 8,474 999 1,225

Aston, part of parish £355,788 £362,337 £365,875
Yearly increase 9,419 6,549 3,538

Total rateable value of
the Borough £1,520,179 £1,534,109 £1,548,968
Yearly increase 36,379 13,912 14,859

~Rainfall.~--The mean annual rainfall in the eleven years ending with 1871, in this neighbourhood, was 29.51 inches, in the following eleven years 36.01 inches, the two heaviest years being 1872 with 47.69 inches, and 1882 with 43.06 inches. The depth of rain registered in the last three months of 1882 (14.93 inches), was the largest for any three consecutive months ever recorded by our painstaking meteorologist, the late Mr. T.L. Plant, of Moseley.

~Ravenhurst.~--The old house at Camp Hill, which gave names to Hurst Street and Ravenhurst Street, leading in the direction of the mansion, where in 1810 there were found a number of coins and tokens of the period of Queen Elizabeth and Charles I., as well as sundry Scotch "bawbees."

~Rea.~--This little river takes its rise among the Lickey Hills, and from certain geological discoveries made in 1883, there is every reason to believe that, in Saxon days, it was a stream of considerable force. The name Rea, or Rhea, is of Gaelic derivation, and, with slight alteration, it is the name of some other watercourses in the kingdom. From time to time, alterations have been made in the course of the Rea, and prior to the introduction of steam its waters were used extensively for mill-power, dams, fleams, and shoots interfering with the free running in all directions. Long little better than an open sewer, there is a prospect that, within a few years, it may be cleansed and become once more a limpid stream, if the sanitary authorities will but find some more convenient site as burial-place for unfortunate canines and felines.